


Uncomfortable Truths

by starhawk2005



Category: House M.D., Supernatural
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Gen Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-09
Updated: 2012-09-09
Packaged: 2017-11-13 21:52:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/508089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starhawk2005/pseuds/starhawk2005
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cameron knows him well enough by now, they both know she has him by the short and curlies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“So, when you and Chase are screwing, do you ever accidentally call out my name?”

This is House’s conversation opener when he finds Cameron in the lab after hours. She’s not up here as much as she used to be, but even her ER patients need test results, and fast. So here she is.

And here _he_ is.

It could almost be like old times, except- “Were you thinking of _me_ when you kissed Cuddy the other day?” she retorts back over her shoulder at him. Sometimes, it’s useful to be friends with  Wilson .

Silence from behind her for more than three seconds, and that’s how she knows she’s struck a nerve.

In the past, she might have waited, given him time to gather himself, just to be polite, but those days are long behind them.

Instead, she turns to look at him. He’s wearing a blank expression, but she presses on. “That whole Cuddy-kiss thing, that’s not going to go anywhere,” she points out.

“Is that a statement or a question?” he snarks, but it lacks punch. Cameron knows him well enough by now, they both know she has him by the short and curlies.

She doesn’t answer him directly, she just makes another observation: “Ironic, isn’t it, that for someone who claims to loathe people, you sure love to butt into other people’s lives s often as you can. You don’t want me, but that doesn’t stop you from trying to cast doubt on my love life. Same with  Wilson . And now Cuddy. She might actually be willing to try going out with you, though I can’t really understand it, myself, given how you talk to her. But you’re going to push her away until she _goes_ away…though I’ll bet if she starts dating anyone else, you won’t be happy with that, either.” It might be the longest speech she’s ever said to him.

“Psycho-analyzing me again, Dr. Cameron? How useful. Why don’t _I_ take a turn-“ he starts.

“No,” Cameron says, flat and uninterested. “I don’t care.” She rips the sheet of test results out of the printer and stalks out of the room, ignoring his parting shot about running away from cripples.

House is a slow poison, and it’s better to take him in small doses. She’s had her dose for the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Predictably, he seeks her out again the next day. God forbid she should have the upper hand for more than twelve hours.

Predictably, he seeks her out again the next day. God forbid she should have the upper hand for more than twelve hours.

She rolls her eyes at his appearance. “Kind of busy here,” she says, indicating the patient in the hospital bed she’s standing next to.

House glares at the patient. “He’s not dying. We have time.”

The patient’s jaw drops open. “ _Excuse_ me-“ he retorts.

“You’re excused,” House tells him dismissively, shuffling closer. 

Cameron looks apologetically at the patient, before turning to House. “Avoiding a certain Dean of Medicine?” she asks, hoping the mention of Cuddy will make him back off. She’s got work to do here.

But House continues, undeterred. “As I was trying to say yesterday, we should analyze _you_. For example, why you’re living with Chase.”

Cameron rolls her eyes again, checking the patient’s IV bag. “I like ‘damaged men’, remember? Chase isn’t dying, of course, but he’s certainly got a few things wrong with him, mostly ‘upstairs’.”

“Not to mention you also started this whole thing with Chase, to fill the void left by not being able to entice your intelligent and volcanically-hot boss to date you,” House snarks, clearly annoyed that he’s not getting to her the way he used to.

Cameron grins to herself, then composes her expression before turning back to House. “Ironic, isn’t it, Dr. House? You basically tell me all I really want is you…and yet _you’re_ the one visiting me constantly? I think that’s the more interesting analysis, here.”

“Oh, _burn_ ,” says the patient, smirking at House.

House’s jaw tightens. “You learn fast,” he says to Cameron. It’s not a compliment.

“I did learn from the best, or so he likes to tell himself,” Cameron points out mildly, pretending to be engrossed in her patient’s chart. She can’t stop the grin as she hears House’s cane thumps slowly making their way out of the room behind her. Round 2, again her win? Amazing.

“Sorry about that, Mr. Winchester. Are you feeling better now that we have you hydrated?”

The patient flashes a smile at her. “Call me Dean. And yeah, much better. Especially now that Dr. Asshole has left.”

Cameron smiles, shaking her head slightly. House _is_ an asshole, but it’s not as simple as that. Although it’s much easier to put up with him from a distance like this, asshole or not. 

Too bad it took the destruction of their team to realize it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He enters the staff lounge, where she’s alone, standing by a window and watching the rain outside, and he limps up right behind her.

He only manages to stay away for two days, and Cameron suspects even that is only because the new team has a challenging case to deal with. In any case, the reasons don’t matter to her.

When he does show up, though, clearly he’s decided to take a new tack. He enters the staff lounge, where she’s alone, standing by a window and watching the rain outside, and he limps up _right_ behind her.

Inwardly, she sighs. There was a time when she might’ve actually felt something, some spark of excitement from his nearness, but she knows better now.

This is all some kind of game. Actually, it’s the kind of game House prefers. Why just screw with her, when he can screw with her, Cuddy,  Wilson , _and_ the new team? House probably even started the rumours that he’s interested in her, himself.

“What do you want now, House?” she asks, bored. She’s never found his game-playing all that amusing, whether she’s been the target or not.

“Maybe I want _you_ , as you so astutely pointed out,” he says. He doesn’t sound like he’s being snarky, but she knows that doesn’t mean anything.

“Right. Let me just dump Chase, and we’ll get right on that,” Cameron says cuttingly. Chase isn’t perfect, not even close, but they have _something_ , and she’s not going to drop it all just so that House can mess with her all over again.

“You should,” he insists, shifting close enough that his breath brushes the back of her neck. “You don’t really want him, not really.”

“How well you know me,”  Cam retorts, still sarcastic. God, he’s just so full of himself. It’s not even close to being attractive.

“Yeah,” he says. 

That’s when his hands fall onto her shoulders, and he turns her. For a moment, she’s too busy wondering what the fuck he is doing, to stop him. When he kisses her, it _feels_ real – it takes her back to the last time they kissed – but by the time they break apart, she knows it doesn’t matter. It may feel real and genuine now, but ten minutes from now (if it takes that long), House will already have talked himself out of this. It reportedly happened with Cuddy weeks ago, and there’s no reason to think this’ll be any different.

She pulls away from him. “No,” she says.

He looks startled. He’s not used to refusals, obviously. 

She doesn’t wait for his questions. “Maybe it would’ve worked between us, back when you still had a soul. But you’re way past that now. Even if I still wanted you, I’d never be sure if it was a game or not. And I _don’t_ want you.”

He stands frozen, staring at the floor now, but there’s nothing else to say. She used to trust him to do the right thing, but that was before Stacy, and Tritter, and the countless other ways he’s demonstrated in the last few years that if he ever possessed a heart, it’s long dead now.

And, unfortunately for House, Allison would rather keep her own heart just the way it is. Thank you very much.


End file.
